Breakdancers, ballet routines and ‘Kiss Cam’ are helping to ensuring London
2012 lives up to its billing as ‘the greatest show on earth’.

It is London 2012’s secret weapon: the displays of entertainment before, during and after events that are getting spectators excited about sports they never knew they cared about.

A team of producers, working behind the scenes, have created a series of hi-tech music and dance shows to keep crowds excited. Using everything from ‘Kiss Cams’ and ‘Bongo Cams’ to ‘magic moppers’ and ‘crazy rakers’, the London Games have left audiences with beaming smiles on their faces.

The Olympics has never seen anything like it before. British sport, too, may never be the same again.

“It feels very American, but in a fun way. We loved the entertainment,” said Celia Coombes, 55, a university lecturer from Portishead, near Bristol, who had just watched China thrash Angola in a women’s basketball game. The game itself wasn’t thrilling but the entertainment throughout the game was a huge hit with Mrs Coombes, her husband David, 56, a computer consultant, and their two children, aged 18 and 11. The rest of the 10,000 crowd, judging by the whoops and cheers, agreed.

“Our remit is to create the perfect alignment of athletes and spectators,” said Andy Derbyshire, who is in charge of sport presentation at events such as the beach volleyball, the basketball and the artistic gymnastics. “It is about encouraging the crowd and the athletes.”

No Olympics has gone to such lengths to entertain its crowds – a deliberate decision after Beijing, where bursts of Chinese opera very occasionally interspersed the sport.

At London 2012, music and theatrical lighting play a key role in creating anticipation and excitement. Different sports get a different musical treatment, with 2,500 songs recorded and available to play across the venues at the touch of a button. Sports have been divided into five categories, which include ‘heritage’ events such as fencing, showjumping and modern pentathlon, to ‘energy’ sports such as swimming, cycling and beach volleyball. Each gets a musical score and lighting, video and stage show to match. “Basketball is more like a nightclub than a beach party,” said Mr Derbyshire.

“We would normally enhance a rock performance by using lighting and sound,” explained James O’Brien, a former MTV producer and the head of London 2012 sports presentation. “Here, we are enhaning what is happening on the field of play.”

Mr O’Brien has spent the past three years perfecting the shows put on at the Games, and is in charge of a staff of 1,200 people, who have helped bring the joys of pompom-wielding cheerleaders, stadium clap-o-meters and bikini-clad dancing girls to a British audience. Orchestrated mass singalongs and slow-motion Mexican waves add to the delight of the fans.

Fencing, a sport that would not feature in most people’s must-see list, was given a “science fiction makeover” after Mr O’Brien decided that the sport reminded him of the light sabres used in Star Wars. Used the aesthetics of films such as Tron and Blade Runner as the basis for the event’s staging, the lights are turned out before fencers walk into the arena, bathed in a bright, white light. The effect is breathtaking.

The Sunday Telegraph attempted to guage the crowd’s excitement in a number of venues using a hand-held decibel counter. It topped 104.6 decibels at a beach volleyball match between Team GB and Italy, the kind of noise level expected at a rock concert. Even the low-key women’s basketball match between China and Angola racked up more than 101.9 decibels.

Professional presenters have been hired to increase the sense of occasion including Peter Dickson, The X Factor’s ‘Voice of God’, who introduces beach volleyball. Eddy Vidal, a 6ft 8in former professional basketball player and one of three presenters overseeing his sport’s events, said: “The players are the emperors, but we are the royalty.”

Mr Vidal says he intervenes in the proceedings to give fans a better time. “We have a set routine but can change things according to the mood of the match. If it’s not a close game, we really up the excitement. We adapt to each session.”

Entertainment at the basketball – as with all other events – is carefully scripted by backroom producers. In any two-game session, it will always include a Kiss Cam moment – whereby the stadium camera swoops on couples, whose image is broadcast on two big screens, and fans then encourage them to kiss in front of the thousands looking on; a Bongo Cam moment, in which audience members are encouraged to play a pretend set of bongos superimposed on the giant screens; the appearance of ‘Magic Moppers’, who walk onto court during breaks in play pretending to wipe up sweat, only to start doing spectacular breakdancing; a competitive singalong between stands; and a Mexican Wave performed in slow-motion, to breathe new life into the hackneyed form of fan participation.

“I did the Athens Olympics as well, but things have changed quite a bit since then,” says Mr Vidal. “It was definitely a lot more formal. It is now an entertainment event. People come here and want to feel part of the Olympics and the British are really embracing this. They love it.”

At the beach volleyball, songs are played between points, in ten-second bursts. “We play the songs as soon as the ball hits the sand, and until the umpire signals for the next serve,” says Mr Derbyshire. “Partly what makes beach volleyball great is that the audience hears a track they haven’t heard for 20 years. It’s a journey of great British music that also reflects the Opening Ceremony.”

Which explains the use of the Benny Hill theme at the venue on Horse Guards Parade. Humour is a huge part of the presentation of beach volleyball – a sport that does not take itself too seriously – and includes the use of a dancing troupe in 50s’-style swimsuits. “The athletes don’t need to warm up the crowd because the crowd has been warmed up already. We are the supporting act,” said Mr O’Brien.

Other sports get more ‘artistic’ entertainmen. Audiences at gymnastic fixtures, held at the North Greenwich Arena – more usually known as the O2 Arena, and which has a fantastic lighting and sound system – are treated to breathtaking displays of dance before the competitions get underway. The Central School of Ballet created an original piece to demonstrate gymnastic skills, and the English National Ballet reworked an excerpt from Swan Lake. Pop acts such as Pixie Lott and the Pet Shop Boys have given surprise pre-match gigs.

The entertainment has certainly delighted the spectators. “I absolutely loved it. It was great fun,” said retired school teacher Mike Chalmers, 67, from Bexley in Kent even after witnessing Team GB lose at the beach volleyball on Tuesday evening. His brother David, a retired headmaster, added: “We came for the experience and we got it. It wouldn’t be half as good without the music, the build-up, and the dancers.”

Amanda Petch, 48, a housewife from Benenden in Kent, who was there with her husband Robert, who works in wealth management, said: “It was just fantastic. It felt more like a concert with the singing and the music. We got straight into it.” Indeed, teenage girls in their party wore all-in-one Union flag jumpsuits bought specially on eBay for the occasion.

During the game, the Sunday Telegraph decibel counter peaked at 101.9 – when Eddy Vidal urged fans to make some noise. The crowd duly responded in true London 2012 fashion.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Held on Horse Guards Parade, in the heart of Whitehall, with seating for 15,000 spectators

The X Factor Classed as an ‘energy’ event by London 2012 organisers, rock and pop music is blasted in 10-second ‘strings’ in between rounds – everything from Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up” to the inevitable “We Will Rock You”. The biggest cheers come from blasts of the ‘Benny Hill’ theme tune. The eight-strong team of presenters and announcers includes Peter Dickson, the so-called “Voice of God” from ‘The X Factor’.

The Roar Factor Crowds encouraged to clap in unison and shout ‘Olé!’ after the bugler is sounded (which is quite a lot), while electronic screens post messages such as “Let’s Make Some Noise”, “Boom!” and “Ace”. Commentator’s favourite phrase is “Let’s make it loud!” followed by “Let’s keep it going!”. The ‘Sunday Telegraph’ noiseometer registered a high of 104.6 decibels in the first set of Team GB vs Italy on Tuesday

The Phwoar Factor With bikini-clad athletes on the field of play, the half-time dancing girls – called, a little unimaginatively, the Horse Guards Parade Dancers – seem almost chaste by comparison, in their 50s-style bathing suits. Entertainment producers promise more revealing costumes in matches this week, as well as some surprise gigs from famous pop stars. Crikey.

ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS

Held at the North Greenwich Arena, the venue formerly known as the O2 Arena, with capacity for 20,000 spectators

The X Factor Classed as a ‘primetime’ sport, artistic gymnastics’ fans – many of them children – are treated to plenty of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” to go with more contemporary blasts of Jessie J and One Direction. Singer Pixie Lott has put in a pre-performance concert, while a specially choreographed piece by the Central School of Ballet demonstrating the skills needed to be a good gymnast was breathtaking. Added to the pre-match entertainment was a special performance by the English National Ballet, entitled ‘Swan Lake 2012’.

The Roar Factor It may be gymnastics but there’s plenty of orchestrated foot-stamping between the hushed performances. Blessed with all the technical wizardry of the O2, which is regularly voted the world’s best rock concert venue, the lighting effects are superb. Strangely the commentators, explaining events and warming up the crowd, are oddly inaudible given the peerless acoustics. After the announcer wound up the crowd prior to Team GB’s appearance in the men’s individual final on Wednesday, the ‘Sunday Telegraph’ noiseometer hit 101.3 decibels.

The Phwoar Factor Muscular young men and athletic women spinning wildly on high bars, or else springing off a pommel horse, are enough of a draw. But the event’s producers have thrown in Kirsteen O’Sullivan, a blonde Scottish presenter who works mainly in Ireland, to whip up a frenzy among the crowd and provide a pretty face to look at on the big screens. Cue lots of shouting, most of it indecipherable.wit

TRACK CYCLING

Held at the Velodrome inside the Olympic Park, with a capacity of 6,000

The X Factor Another of the so-called ‘energy’ sports, cycling fans are treated to a soundtrack of classic rock and pop songs, plus “Velodrome”, written for the occasion by the Chemical Brothers. When Philip Hindes fell off his bike in the opening round of the men’s team sprint, the producers played Chumbawamba’s anthem, “Tubthumping” (“I get knocked down but I get up again…”). When Team GB won gold, Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town” pumped out.

The Roar Factor The Velodrome may be the world’s noisiest sports venue: the Sunday Telegraph’s decibel counter hit an unofficial Games record of 114.4 decibels when Chris Hoy crossed the line to win gold on Thursday’s opening day in the track cycling, making it louder than a rock concert. Excitement levels were stoked by clever use of lasers and pulsing music.

The Phwoar Factor Clearly Chris Hoy’s thighs and Victoria Pendleton’s everything are a big draw, but that’s not enough for the Games organisers. The velodrome gets a ‘Kiss Cam’, too, with the announcer chanting “Kiss, kiss, kiss” as the camera pans in on one couple after another. The first kiss on Thursday was pretty chaste, but other couples seemed keener on public displays of affection in this, the hottest of Olympic amphitheatres.

FENCING

Held at the ExCel conference centre in London’s Docklands, with a capacity of around 6,000

The X-Factor Branded a ‘heritage’ sport, fencing events get a ‘Best of British’ soundtrack featuring the likes of Adele, The Smiths and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. There’s no trickery when competition starts, but fans get two specially choreographed pieces by the Central School of Ballet, performed to Coldplay’s ‘Clocks’ and Pulp’s ‘Common People’. The English National Ballet have also produced a piece drawing on the “balletic nature of the sport”.

The Roar Factor Who knew fencing could be so rowdy? With a low-ceiling arena and the best theatrical lighting in the Games, the crowd is well and truly pumped by the time athletes walk on to the piste for a bout. Commentators ramp up the fervour, although in the excitement it was perhaps not wise for the announcer at the finish of the Ladies’ individual sabre final to declare: “The [Democratic] People’s Republic of Korea take the gold medal” – the North – only to add hastily: “The Republic of Korea [ie, South Korea] take the gold medal. In my excitement [I got it wrong], my apologies.” The Sunday Telegraph noiseometer registered a peak of 102.0 decibels at the moment of victory.

The Phwoar Factor Producers have given the sport the sexiest of makeovers with a backdrop that mixes Star Wars and James Bond. The arena is plunged into darkness until athletes march out, bathed in a halo of white light. Green and red LED lighting marks out either end of the piste.

BASKETBALL

Held in the Olympic Park, in a temporary stadium seating 12,000

The X Factor Another ‘energy’ event, a thumping soundtrack fills in during breaks in play for time-outs, fouls and injuries. Talent scouts should take a look, too, at the incredible half-time entertainment from cheerleaders, acrobats and the Get Tricky international jump rope team, which takes the art of skipping to Olympian levels. The ‘magic moppers’ who break into street dances always raise a big laugh.

The Roar Factor The attempted mass singalong enjoyed mixed results: an Amy Winehouse song went down so badly it was ditched, while after a version of Oasis’s ‘Wonderwall’, presenter Eddie Vidal shouted: “Great job. Let’s meet outside and start a rock band.” The Sunday Telegraph noiseometer recorded 101.9 decibels during a match between China and Angola, after the crowd was urged to applaud as loudly as possible for the stadium’s own clapometer.

The Phwoar Factor If 6ft 9in Chinese female basketball players are not your thing, there’s always the Surrey Starlets cheerleading team, whose girls are thrown into the air in precarious and brilliant routines. Also home to the Kiss Cam, a roving camera that hones in on couples in the crowd who are then urged to kiss. Some pairs are reluctant; others alarmingly keen to snog full-on in front of thousands.